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SRINAGAR: Gulmarg’s glittering slopes, erstwhile blanketed for months, present flicker betwixt achromatic and bare. Seasons shrink. Thaws bite. People ask: Where are the snows of yesteryear? Future of India’s premier skis edifice looks progressively similar it’s skating connected bladed crystal — and govt is racing to support it from sliding disconnected course.Plans are moving fast. Artificial snow. Synthetic slopes. A afloat rethink of however skiing survives successful a warming Kashmir.Push comes from a hard truth. CM Omar Abdullah, who besides handles tourism, warned past Dec that erratic snowfall could crook Gulmarg’s skiing bequest into memory. Europe already leans heavy connected artificial snow. Japan has reimagined infrastructure. Kashmir cannot spend to get retired implicit its skis, helium had said.Goal is blunt: chopped reliance connected earthy snowfall and agelong skiing into a four-season activity.J&K Cable Car Corporation Ltd has invited bids to bring successful consultants for a elaborate task study and tender documents for an artificial snow-making strategy astatine Kongdori, a bowl-shaped vale astir 4.5km from Gulmarg autobus station. Deadline for submissions: May 2.A parallel tender seeks plans for an all-weather artificial skis surface, enlargement of drag-lift slopes and installation of a covered “magic carpet” — a conveyor-belt-like assistance that mildly carries skiers, beginners and adjacent snowfall tubes uphill without the request for poles oregon harnesses.
That bid closes May 13.Official documents outline a method heavy dive earlier immoderate rollout — meteorological, hydrological, topographical, and geotechnical studies to representation viability. Foreign firms tin join, but lone done Indian-registered offices oregon partnerships led by home companies.On ground, changes could beryllium sweeping. Existing drag-lift slope — narrow, single-use, snow-dependent — would beryllium widened and segmented into lanes for skiers, snowboarders and snowfall tubers, separated by certified information nets.
Synthetic turf would let gliding adjacent erstwhile snowfall refuses to fall. Covered conveyor would determination crowds efficiently, cutting queues and easing entree for novices.Numbers are telling. Gulmarg erstwhile boasted 100–120 skiable days a year, dependable snowfall from Dec done March. Past decade-and-a-half has rewritten the publication — precocious snowfall, mid-season melts, thinning snowfall basal astatine little altitudes, aboriginal shutdowns.Tourism system feels the squeeze. Ski schools shorten schedules.
Hotels hedge bets. Adventure operators juggle uncertainty.Artificial snowmaking offers buffer — machines that spray good h2o droplets into acold aerial to crystallize into snow, gathering and maintaining a skiable base. Synthetic surfaces widen usability beyond winter, ensuring slopes don’t beryllium idle.Still, stakes stay high. Costs, biology balance, h2o use, and semipermanent clime trends volition signifier success. Technology tin bargain clip — not rewrite weather. Gulmarg’s slopes whitethorn yet hold. But a question lingers successful acold upland aerial — not conscionable however to ski, but however agelong wintertime itself volition stay.
